Eagles' Staff Assembled in Private, but No Cause for Concern

Bruce Feldman of CBSSports.com is reporting that the Eagles have added Bill Lazor as an assistant to their staff. However, there have been no official reports from the Eagles to announce the move.

It's business as usual in Philly.

Chip Kelly was announced as the new head coach of the Eagles on January 16th. Since then, a number of college coaches such as Rick Minter (University of Kentucky) and Jerry Azzinaro (Oregon) have been seen sporting Eagles gear and talking to prospects at the Senior Bowl.

Pat Shurmur, who worked with Reid and was most recently head coach of the Browns, has been understood (per ESPN) to be the new offensive coordinator for over a week.

It may seem odd that no formal announcements have been made. What's the harm in saying someone is actually on your staff, right? Well, my take on the silence is simple: Kelly isn't concerned with where he places his staff at the moment and so the Eagles haven't bothered to make an announcement.

This doesn't mean that Kelly hired people without a long-term plan.

Consider Kelly's staff as a think-tank or a group of 500 celebrities who get together to sing some awful song for charity. The idea is that these guys are experienced and highly knowledgeable on a certain side of the ball, so there's no need to define roles for anyone at the moment. Remember, Kelly is a guy who thinks outside the box.

Expect the staff to come together formally a few days after the Super Bowl for two reasons.

Firstly, after the Senior Bowl, there are no more major events until free agency. Kelly will have time to determine roles then. Secondly, the rumor (per Howard Eskin of 94WIP Radio) is that the Eagles are interested in 49ers secondary coach Ed Donatell as their next defensive coordinator, and he will not be available until after Sunday.

This would also explain why they're not handling their DC search like their coaching search—talking to anyone and everyone.

The most important factor of Kelly's staff thus far is that these guys have lots of experience. Minter, for example, has been a defensive coordinator almost every year since 1985. Lazor has been a coach for 18 years and has seven years of NFL experience.

So while the staff may be something of a secret for now, do not be concerned. It seems like Kelly is headed in the right direction.